TY - JOUR AU - Onni, Anindita Tasnim AU - Dodanwalage , Asela Kumar Perera AU - BrÄtveit, Magne AU - Moen, Bente Elisabeth PY - 2023/03/15 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Prevalence of Occupational Injuries in selected Coir Industries in Sri Lanka: a cross-sectional study JF - International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health JA - Int J Occup Saf Health VL - 13 IS - 2 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.3126/ijosh.v13i2.48717 UR - https://nepjol.info/index.php/IJOSH/article/view/48717 SP - 206-213 AB - <p><strong>Introduction:</strong> The coir industry processes fibers from coconuts and is important for a high number of people in Sri Lanka. Coir workers handle several dangerous machines. This project has studied occupational injuries among coir workers.</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> This cross-sectional study was performed in six medium-sized coir industries in Sri Lanka, each with 15-100 employees. The workers who were present at work on the two days the researchers visited the respective industries (128 of total 214 workers) were interviewed on socio-demographics, work tasks they normally perform and occupational injuries they had experienced in the last three months. Independent T-tests and Chi-square tests were used to analyze for differences between groups.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The mean age of the 128 interviewed workers was 45 years and 53.9% were male. Totally 34 (26.6%) of the workers had experienced at least one injury each during the past three months. Women reported significantly more injuries than men (38.9% vs 15.9%). The workers operating machines reported significantly more injuries than workers who performed other types of work (42.3% vs 22.0%). Slipped, tripped, and fall (64%) were the most common events of injury seen among the injured workers followed by cuts by sharp objects or machines (20%). The most common type of injury among the workers reporting injuries were cuts and bruises (50%).</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> More than one-fourth of the workers reported to have been injured in the last three months, indicating a high injury risk. This raises concerns and highlights the need for preventative measures to minimize risks.</p> ER -